One year on

Let's play a game. Complete the following sentence "A year ago today I was...."

Well a year ago today I'd just left my husband and started on a course that would leave me as I am now - 2 weeks away from a decree nisi.

I wasn't sure how I was going to feel about it all. I had half expected to be really upset. But then...I'm not sure if time heals all but at least the wounds aren't so raw. Things have been going pretty well recently. Work is ok,  mentally I'm stable, I'm ok financially, there's a cat in my near future, I've just been on a gorgeous holiday, knitting and making in general is all good, my family is well and happy, and, to be honest, I've spent the weekend in the arms of my new lover*.

It's not that I don't wish things had turned out differently. Had things continued to plan I'd have a baby by now and be sitting in a flat I part owned with my husband. And I really did love Pooch so very much. If he hadn't acted as he did...but then I've thought that a lot during the last twelve months and the only response is to point out that he did.

And so looking forward...the cat blanket nears completion ready for the arrival of Smackdown.

I spent this afternoon is the company of the delightful Romford Knitters with the amazingly talented Nickerjac among others. Not content with mastering knitting, crochet, spinning and double fillet crochet to an exquisite level she has conquered jewellery and brought along the most amazing samples for our feedback. These two came away with me.

I absolutely adore them. Like orbits around a far off sun.

And even with little planets. I can't stop looking at them!

* His name is Flash and he is a juxtaposition on legs.

Marvellous Mallorca

Guys - it was seriously awesome. Just drink this in.

We were staying at this hotel which I fully intend to go back to within the next few years and wouldn't hesitate to recommend. In fact if anyone wishes to go there for 4+ nights before the end of May next year they gave me a transferable 5% off coupon which can be used on top of their usual offers (7 nights for price of 6 etc). The only thing is you have to hire a car because the town is about an hour's drive from Palma and public transport is a bit intermittent. The town itself was Fornalutx which was all stone passageways and amazing mountains.

Then nearby was Soller which has an old fashioned clackety train to Palma....

and also Port de Soller which was very beautiful.

Yep, sweet holiday. I was there with my mum and dad - so an opportunity for everyone to remark on how much I look like my mater.

She is such a lady. In her sixties and she's demurely covered pretty much wrist to ankle most of the time despitre the heat which was 30-35 most of the time. Then she sashays to the pool in a strapless swimming costume with a figure such as I would like to have now. I did the checking out and and the owner took the opportunity of her absence to rave about Mum's smile and how lovely she is. Not wrong.

The heat was a very dry one and so knitting was perfectly feasible.

I finished these last night and am really pleased with them.

The pattern is Socks of Kindness and is free here on Ravelry. It is one of those splendid ones which look complicated and are absolutely not. Very intuitive. If you can count to six and k2tog this is for you. Worked well on magic loop too. Since then I have been crocheting hexagons for Smackdown's blanket.

Really awful photo but the yarn is James C Brett Rio which while lovely is 70% acrylic so tends to look a tad shiny. Machine washable though so perfect for a cat blanket. The colour changes are fun too.

The hexagons are a bit of a recurring theme at the moment.

The quilt is now de-papered (at last - sheesh - Sarah had commented on this post that she takes them out as she goes along. Amen to that sister) and has had circles drawn on it in water-erasable pen to help with the actual quilting part. I may start all that later today.

Going on a Late Summer Holiday

After much effort I have shortlisted three sock patterns for holiday and wound two skeins into balls.

The weather is slightly different to the current gales that seem to be buffeting my personal part of London.

So I will be back soon with tales from across the waters!

Going on a Late Summer Holiday

After much effort I have shortlisted three sock patterns for holiday and wound two skeins into balls.

The weather is slightly different to the current gales that seem to be buffeting my personal part of London.

So I will be back soon with tales from across the waters.

Bit of everything

I have baked.

I have glued.

I have sewn.

And I have put things in jars and then put a pin cushion on top plus some ribbon.

Been pretty active really.

I also went to an Elderly Lady Tea Party yesterday. I was advised it would be drinking gin from teacups but I'm more of a sherry woman myself. I haven't got a picture of what I was wearing but I did snap these three on the sofa.

Kind of gives you the idea. I freaking *adore* fancy dress parties but never seem to get invited to them so this was awesome.

Awesome Boobs

I let my chest speak for itself.

But seriously, the bag. Yippeee!

Tape handle duly added.

It was a bit of a bodge but has worked out pretty well. I've been using it the last two days and am very happy with it.

I'll definitely be making more for xmas presents.

The Cranford KAL continues very well. I am now a whole Cranford in.

Really hard to get the colours to look right.

I have a massage booked tonight. I think I've waxed lyrical about them before but themassagerooms.com come to your house and let you choose duration, type and areas of focus then, in an unusual twist, give you a menu of young women to choose from. I have duly chosen and a blond slovenian will be here shortly. All sounds horribly sordid while being blissfully wonderful. Scented candles ho!

Oh ok, just one more picture of the bag then....

Nom. 

Run Byrne Run

Something really weird happened this morning. This is an illustration of what happened.

See? Weird. Weeks ago I bought some trainers. A week or so after that I downloaded the free NHS "Couch to 5k" podcast. Then many weeks went past. Then this morning I woke up shortly after 6 and thought "Right, time to go running." I'm worried it might be dementia. Or the menopause or something. Anyway, I made it through day 1 week 1 and no I didn't feel better afterwards. I felt sweaty. And no that's not the same thing.

Having got the insanity out of my system I went off to Kew to visit Tikki Patchwork.

Now there's a lovely shop and easy walking distance from the tube station. Not big but with every space used well to display lovely fabrics and accoutrements. You see I am planning another quilt. NOT a handsewn one or paper-pieced. Something with rectangles which are machine sewn and rotary cut. The Make Lounge has some fabrics but this place was a little Aladdin's cave with a couple of hundred 100% cottons to choose from. On this occasion I was only there to look but when have I ever only window shopped? My haul was modest.

The tape measure ribbon/cotton tape is for the handle of the metal frame bag I made a few weeks ago. It's going to be ideal so I shall put that together this weekend.

I made my cat-to-be a toy this week. I've been meaning to try one of these for ages and thought it might work as a christmas tree decoration with the right fabric. So I got a load of small scraps for a try-out and here you are.

I am sure the cat will tear it apart in about 30 seconds but then they'll probably enjoy it so I don't mind. And it would work on a tree except the pentagons need to be smaller. So now we know.

Lastly the Cranford-a-long has been going well. I have just divided for the thumb on my first one - although this is a shot from earlier.

The colours are very hard to photograph but it is neither so garish or gothic as it looks. Plus it is certainly knitting up quickly. I've made a couple of mods which I'll write up on Rav.

Cranford-A-Long Day 1

 

A while ago I donated a blogpost to p/hop asking "What Mittens Would the A-Team Wear?". At the time I suggested Cranfords for Face. Now all these months later I am finally knitting a pair! But not for him - oh no. These babies are for me.

It's not too late to join the knit-a-long. There is a thread on Ravelry for all those taking part. And you can get the pattern from the p/hop site in return for a heart-hugging donation.

Making a Mess Monday

I have been making this quilt since 22nd March 2010. It's been a labour of not exactly love - more grim determination. I have now assembled all the bits and am ready to move to the quilting stage. EXCEPT...all the paper pieces need to be untacked and taken out.

There are literally thousands. This is not a quick job.

I remember talking to someone about the Kaffe Fassett knitting exhibition that had been on in the V&A years ago. They had talked about wanting to be able to see the inside of the intarsia and fairisle garments to see how the 'wrong side' had been handled. Then there is Kate who has a unique turn of phrase and talks about the "naughty" or "private" side (technical term) of her knitting. Quilts of course have exactly the same thing.

At the Festival of Quilts I had to physically restrain my mater from lifting up the quilt edges to look at the backs, despite the "DO NOT TOUCH" signs in every language and all handmade hanging from every available post.

It's natural to want to see what people have done where they weren't expecting it to show. Possibly this is why people (in general, not me) like reality shows.

So having to remove each of these paper hexagons individually, every one having been hand sewn by myself in the first place, has given me quite a lot of time to contemplate the naughty side.

Still another couple of hundred to go....things may get naughtier.

STOP PRESS

I have the landlord's permission to get a cat.

Source: None via Alex on Pinterest

I have to pay extra deposit but I had expected that.

Source: lickystickypickyme.tumblr.com via Alex on Pinterest

I am so excited. 

Source: flickr.com via Alex on Pinterest

It won't be til after I get back holiday but then....

Source: flickr.com via Alex on Pinterest

Countdown to kitty....